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Sentencing Guidelines Are Being Intelligently Adjusted

The amendment originated with the U.S. Sentencing Commission and is something we carefully considered over several years.

May 8, 2014 3:54 p.m. ET

Regarding Mortimer Zuckerman's "Harsh Sentencing, Overstuffed Prisons—It's Time for Reform" (op-ed, May 3): Mr. Zuckerman mentions a Justice Department sentencing panel proposing an amendment to federal guidelines. In fact, it was the U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent, bipartisan agency that is part of the judicial branch, which voted unanimously on April 10 to amend the federal sentencing guidelines to modestly reduce sentences for the majority of federal drug offenders. We appreciated the support for this change from the Justice Department and others ranging from bipartisan members of Congress to...